God Is In The Melanin

Chokwe Mwana Pwo Masks: Chokwe people of Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia

Mwana pwo (young woman) masks, danced by Chokwe men at festivals primarily for entertainment, are said to bestow increased fertility on the spectators. The masks represent and masks personify akishi (makishi) female ancestor depicted as beautiful young women, with high foreheads, balanced features, filed teeth, and scarification. The scarification marks, which may duplicate those of the actual woman whose beauty inspired the carver, include the cingelyengelye design on the forehead.  

Pwo dancers dance elegantly and gracefully, exemplifying proper female behavior for the Chokwe people.Pwo dancers wear tight fitting net costumes with cotton wrappers and fake breasts. All the accessories used,the mask, costume,rattle,flywhisks,express the ideal portrayal of the Chokwe woman.Power and gracefulness bring wealth and fertlity to young women .

The sunken in eye style that is common in many Chokwe masks. Her eyes are closed to a narrow opening. The tears that fall from the eyes of the mask symbolize the pain of death that occurs throughout a human’s life.There is a sense of smoothness to this mask that is appealing to the eye.

Titled: “Ladies in Red” Kikwit, DR Congo © Jan Franco

Illustration of women from different ethnic groups of the Belgian Congo with their traditional hairstyles and adornments

[There are over 250 different ethnic groups in DR Congo but these illustrations only include (in order from left to right) Bambuti, Wasongola, Bangala, Bayaka, Bangelima, Babali, Basengele, Baluba, Bambala, Batetela, Mangbetu, Azande, Wagenia, Sango, Bushongo (Bakuba/Kuba), Arabisée (/Swahili Waswahili/Baswahili), Ngombe and Banyamulenge (Tutsi Congolese)]

Congolese Wrestlers, Kinshasa by Colin Delfosse

Wagenia/ Wagenya Fishermen

The Wagenya (Enya ethnic group) live in Kisangani, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. They are known and famous for their fishing technique. Fishing and the Congo river are a central part of Wagenya life. Wagenya boys undergo circumcision around the age of 12, the ritual is done on the banks of the Congo river and the foreskin is thrown into the river after the ceremony has concluded. The Wagenya say the Congo river is the river of their ancestors, legends states that a Wagenya can never die in the river because their ancestors’ village is located under the falls and it protects them. Fishing is part of Wagenya culture, the knowledge of how to build tolimo-s is passed down father to son. The tolimo-s are a collective symbol of Wagenya culture and identity. This tradition has existed hundreds of years before Henry Morton Stanley first observed them in 1877. 

[Images by: Ghassen Marzouki, Pascal Maitre and  Andrew McConnell]

watch a video of them fishing 

Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga

Born in 1991, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Lives and works in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga graduated from the Institute of Fine Art, Kinshasa in 2009.

Kamuanga draws from the structural complexity of his hometown and revisits the traditional culture of the Mangbetu people (The Mangbetu are a Sudanic ethnic group living in North/North-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a Bantu majority country) Referencing different forms of advertising and photography as well as traditional aesthetics, his paintings are an amalgam of complementary pop cultural forms, including music, fashion and dance. They offer an intelligent approach to popular culture by exposing the anxieties and joys of his contemporaries.

[click here to view images of Mangbetu women]

L'exposition s'appelle «Lolendo», ce qui signifie Fierté en lingala. Le but de ce projet photographique est de documenter l'histoire des personnes LGBTI en République démocratique du Congo. Pour cela, le photographe et activiste Régis Samba-Kounzi y a passé de longs mois, principalement dans la capitale Kinshasa. Il en rapporte des témoignages bouleversants et des portraits, dont quatre sont publiés en exclusivité pour Yagg. Dans l'interview qu'il nous a accordée, Régis Samba Kounzi raconte les conditions particulières de ce travail et fournit une analyse détaillée de la situation –particulièrement difficile– des personnes LGBTI dans ce pays. - http://yagg.com/